Usman Khawaja, Marcus Stoinis miss out on Australian national contracts

While Usman Khawaja and Marcus Stoinis were central to Australia's plans just a year ago, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Shaun Marsh, and Ashton Turner were used in a prolific way. However, their decline in the form to go with the rise of other players like Ashton Agar, Joe Burns, Kane Richardson and Matthew Wade have ended their hopes of getting a central contract. 

"Marnus' rise has been meteoric and well documented, Joe has been a good Test match player, Ashton Agar's form in T20 internationals has been exceptional, while Kane Richardson has been outstanding in the twenty over and one-day games. Matthew Wade's summer showed he is not only a tough but a good Test player for us. His form extended into white-ball cricket late in the summer, earning him well deserved call ups to the one-day and T20 Australian squads," men's national selector Trevor Hohns said, reported Cricbuzz.

"After missing the list last year Mitch Marsh's recent form showed he has a lot of international cricket ahead of him as a batting all-rounder. Mitch proved this with his man of the match performance against New Zealand at the SCG in the last game Australia played and a five-wicket haul in the last Test match he played on the Ashes tour."

While most contracted players have been advised they have earned their contracts in writing, but their ranking and the retainer amount is yet to be disclosed. CA remains locked in discussions with the Australian Cricketers Association and the states over financial changes devised to prepare for the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The retainer amount is expected to be announced in a couple of weeks.

Contracted men's players: Ashton Agar, Joe Burns, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, James Pattinson, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa